Maryland American Water Company, MD
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
About Maryland American Water Company
Maryland American Water Company serves about 13,200 people through 4,745 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Harford County, Maryland. EPA system ID: MD0120003; phone on file: 410-838-8404. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2020 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Maryland American Water Company is 2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 437 Maryland systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 21 have gone over at some point. Maryland American Water Company's 2 ppb sits at the 75th percentile in Maryland and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
15 other systems share Harford County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Maryland American Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Harford County D.P.W. | 104,567 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Aberdeen | 18,006 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chapel Hill - Aberdeen Proving Grounds | 15,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Havre De Grace | 14,000 | 2 ppb |
| Md American Water Greenridge | 2,351 | 0 (not detected) |
| Swan Harbour Dell Mobile Home Park | 500 | 6 ppb |
| Campus Hills Water Works | 250 | 2.4 ppb |
| Town Of Darlington | 250 | 0 (not detected) |
| Md American Water Lakeside Vista | 226 | 0 (not detected) |
| R & R Estates | 96 | 1.1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bel Air, MD may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Maryland American Water Company whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.